Painter to Painter - A Conversation Between Friends

03 Dec 2019

 

Melissa Boughey and Jane Tangney completed a Bachelor of Fine Art at Curtin University in the early ’90s after abandoning studies in Art Teacher training. They shared a large, ramshackle house in Victoria Park with other art students, a bantam chicken and 3 ducks. Melissa then moved south to Denmark and grew trees, a vineyard and a family. From an idyllic studio, overlooking rejuvenated wetlands, Melissa has continued to develop her painting practice. Jane travelled/worked overseas then returned to Perth where she exhibited and worked in the arts industry. After a stint in Tasmania Jane now shares her time between Fremantle and Cowaramup while juggling art, design and curatorial work at Murdoch University.
Over many years Melissa and Jane have continued their friendship and their dialogue about art-making and what constitutes a good life. They have been each other’s sounding board, confidante and support. Importantly, and pervading all else, they have both maintained a serious commitment to their arts practice and have each been selected as finalists in a number of nationally significant art awards, including the Glover, Hadley, Fleurieu, and Lloyd Rees Art Prize. 
With notions of landscape painting, identity and the human condition permeating their oeuvre, a journey to the Pilbara together in 2018 proved to be an incredibly stimulating experience, with both artists exhibiting in 2018 - Melissa in Denmark and Melbourne, and Jane in Sydney. 
Painter to Painter – A Conversation Between Friends marks the first occasion they have exhibited together. With rigour and humility, they continue to record the Western Australian landscape through personal experience, history and metaphor. Their conversation remains ongoing...